On Thursday, Ken Campbell of The Hockey News reported that the Vancouver Canucks had asked permission to speak to Los Angeles Kings executive Mike Futa. Given that Futa was previously considered for the Buffalo Sabres job (which ultimately went to Tim Murray), we’re probably overdue in considering his credentials for a top hockey operations job in the NHL.

Other experience: Futa doesn’t really have a rich background as a coach or a player; the highlight of his playing career was probably a championship with the Herning Blue Fox of Denmark’s top league in 1995. He moved into coaching in the OHL after, a career which culminated in an unimpressive run as the head coach of a recent expansion club, the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors.

He moved on to a role as an assistant coach and assistant general manager with the Oshawa Generals, which led to a job as the G.M. in Owen Sound.

What has this candidate done that makes him warrant consideration? Futa’s run as head of the Attack was reasonably successful, with the team making the postseason in all five years he spent there; in 2004-05 Futa was named the OHL’s Executive of the Year.

As co-director of amateur scouting (with Mark Yannetti), Futa has helped draft many of the core players currently in Los Angeles, including those who won a Cup with the Kings in 2012. Dwight King, Drew Dougthy, Slava Voynov, Kyle Clifford, Jordan Nolan and Tyler Toffoli were all selected under his watch.

He’s also highly regarded, earning a place on Sports Illustrated’s “Stealth List” in 2011 and was mentioned in the same breath as Nashville Predators AGM Paul Fenton by CBC’s Elliotte Friedman.

What are this candidate’s negatives? There are a few.

Futa’s run as a head coach wasn’t good; the Majors went 36-77-5-4 under his watch. The year after he left, they improved to 35-23-8-2 under new coach Dave Cameron. The possibility should be noted that Cameron timed his arrival with the recent expansion team just right.

Under Futa’s watch as general manager, the Owen Sound Attack made the playoffs each year but lost in the first round three times and the second round twice; only once in those five years did the team have more regular season wins than losses/overtime losses.

Futa and Yannetti were installed as co-directors of the Kings’ amateur scouting group in June 2007, a little over two weeks before that summer’s NHL Entry Draft. Los Angeles picked Thomas Hickey fourth overall. The following is an excerpt from an article by Bill Kipouras of the Salem News in July that same year:

Yannetti and Futa (who had coached Owen Sound in junior hockey), had the added pressure of making the call on the team’s No. 4 overall pick at the NHL Draft in Columbus, Ohio two weeks ago – and delivered.

The Kings were thrilled to garner a smooth-skating defenseman, Thomas Hickey, from the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.

“We were all in agreement over this kid,” said Yannetti of the player who was ranked lower by many other NHL teams and scouting services, but was coveted by the Kings. “Ultimately Dean, as the GM, is the guy (who makes the final call). Everything goes through him. But as a staff, everyone to a man – all five guys – wanted Hickey. This was one of those times everybody was in agreement.”

Does Futa, who jumped from the OHL that year, deserve a pass on the WHL-drafted defenceman? Perhaps. Certainly the Kings did much better with Wayne Simmonds, a second round pick taken from Futa’s old team that same summer.

It’s worth noting that most of the Kings’ drafting under Futa and Yannetti is still too recent to properly judge. But the team’s first round picks under their watch include top-five selections Doughty, Hickey and Brayden Schenn as well as defencemen Colten Teubert (13th overall) and Derek Forbort (15th overall). Teubert flamed out as a prospect, while the 22-year-old Forbort has seen his offence stagnate and is projected as a mid-tier prospect by most independent evaluations.

The Kings haven’t had the luxury of picking early in the draft in recent years, but it’s also worth mentioning that the latest edition of Future Watch listed their prospect group as the 26th-best in the NHL.

Anything else worth noting? In a 2009 Q&A that appeared on the Kings’ official website, Futa was asked what main quality he looks for first when evaluating a prospect. This was his response:

The two most important things are hockey sense and compete level and you can put different rankings on both of them. I tend to err on the side of compete, because even if they have got talent and ability and can see the game, you still see players that take the extra stride to out-compete their opponents.

My personal take: There’s lots to a candidate – particularly one like Futa who isn’t in an NHL position where the track record is manifestly his and his alone – that doesn’t appear on the public record, and so it’s possible the public record doesn’t give a fair account of Futa’s virtues.

But based on the public record, it’s hard to understand why Futa is pegged as a top-tier candidate.

From this distance, his OHL coaching career is uninspiring, his run as an OHL general manager is middling, and his team’s scouting decisions are open to interpretation but there’s plenty to question there. He hasn’t had a long apprenticeship in NHL management, and he hasn’t held a coaching or non-amateur management role in the major leagues.

Based on what we have considered, he wouldn’t make my shortlist.

Previous profiles in this series

Profiles are ranked alphabetically within certain categories. “Credible” indicates a candidate who has a reasonable track record for an aspiring general manager. “Name” indicates someone who lacks such a track record but whose high profile makes them a potential hire. “Unlikely” indicates an unlikely hire (surprise!). Names crossed through are people who would seemingly be unlikely to leave their current positions to take on a G.M. role with another team.

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